Suggestions Mattis could be ousted have surfaced several times during President Donald Trump’s time in office.

A recent Politico report said Trump has cooled on the Pentagon chief he once praised, dropping the nickname “Mad Dog” for “Moderate Dog,” in what was reported to be a swipe at the defence secretary’s purported attempts to moderate or slow-walk White House initiatives.

Mattis was asked about the rumours outside the Pentagon on Tuesday, and he responded with some jokes and jabs of his own.

Mattis denied that he was considering leaving. “I’m thinking about doing my job each day,” he said, smiling. He said he wouldn’t take reports of his impending departure “seriously at all.”

“It’s like most of these kind of things in this town. Somebody cooks up a headline. They then call to a normally chatty class of people. They find a couple of other things to put in. They add the rumour. Somebody on the other coast starts writing the same thing. Next thing you know you got a story,” Mattis said.

“It will die down, just like how many times [have] we been through this now just since I’ve been here?” he added. “It will die down soon, and the people who started the rumour will be allowed to write the next rumour too. Just the way the town is. Keep a sense of humour about it.”

When asked if he never thought about leaving, Mattis offered some wit as he walked away.

“Of course I don’t think about leaving. I love it here. I’m thinking about retiring here, getting a nice little place down on the Potomac,” he said, gesturing toward the river, which is not far from the Pentagon.

Mattis responds to reports his time at the DoD is short: You shouldn't take the reports seriously.

Adds how the "rumor" is spread by the news.

"Of course I don't think about leaving, I love it here. I'm thinking about retiring here, getting a little place down on the Potomac." pic.twitter.com/vNZxRvajXN

But one of the president’s top candidates, retired Army Gen. Jack Keane spoke highly of Mattis, as did other national-security figures like late Sen. John McCain. (Mattis retired from the Marine Corps as a general in 2013 and had to get a congressional wavier to take over at the Pentagon, as he had not been out of the service for the minimum of seven years.)

In spite of that, Trump touted Mattis before taking office, praising him as “a true General’s General.” But Mattis has not been able to remain above the intrigue of the Trump White House.